What Should Spurrier Do About Blake Mitchell?
posted by Scott Hood, Monday, August 06, 2007
Late Saturday night, Spurrier said he was disappointed but not surprised his fifth—year senior signal caller had been disciplined for excessive absences during summer school.
Yesterday, during the same press conference in which he spoke harshly about USC’s admissions policies, Spurrier declined to address a question about Mitchell’s leadership skills.
But later he said Mitchell would be the starter when he returned to the fold for Monday night’s third workout of fall camp, and would remain the starter as long as he played well enough for the rest of August leading up to the season opener Sept. 1.
Interpreting Spurrier’s comments and non-comments about Mitchell as a whole, I have a gut feeling Spurrier is getting fed up with Mitchell’s shenanigans off the field.
If true, this would be a far more serious development than Spurrier’s perceived threats about leaving USC if the admissions policy isn’t changed for football recruits.
Why? Because I know Spurrier is staying. He has no intentions of leaving USC.
The headlines in today’s editions of the local and national newspapers screaming in big, bold print that Spurrier would quit if something wasn’t done quickly about USC’s admission policy for athletes were based entirely on one part of one sentence late in his oratory.
He also said several times he hoped to coach USC for another five years or more and thought USC could have a powerhouse football program.
Unfortunately, those positive statements were buried under the avalanche of a negative 10-second sound bite.
Now back to Mitchell.
Of course, this latest episode isn’t the first time Mitchell has incurred the wrath of Spurrier. Within hours after Mitchell was demoted last year following the shutout loss at home to Georgia, he was involved in an early-morning altercation with a bouncer at a well-known drinking establishment in Five Points.
After a benching that lasted over six games until halftime of the Arkansas game, Mitchell sat quietly on the bench and watched the versatile Syvelle Newton energize the USC offense.
To his credit, Mitchell was a much improved quarterback when he returned. He played smarter (one of Spurrier’s favorite terms) and appeared to grow as a team leader. He was also much better dealing with the media.
As Spurrier has noted, when Mitchell is given adequate protection by the offensive line and supported by a strong running game, he’s very effective.
That’s exactly what happened over the final 18 quarters last season. The offensive line was airtight, surrendering only four sacks over the last for contests, and the running game was productive with Cory Boyd and Mike Davis.
Here’s the deal. Spurrier demands a lot from his quarterbacks, both on and off the field. They are supposed to be a leader (translation: the best player) on the field and model students off it.
Right now, Mitchell struggles in both those areas.
Which is probably the reason Spurrier heaped plenty of praise on backup quarterbacks Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher at Sunday’s press conference. Spurrier said both QB’s have exhibited great improvement in the first couple of practice sessions and a much greater understanding of the offense.
Even Stephen Garcia has caught Spurrier’s eye with his powerful throwing arm but he needs time to fully grasp the nuances of Spurrier’s complex offense before he’s ready to go. Could it be this year? I doubt it.
You can interpret Spurrier’s comments about Smelley and Beecher two ways – both QB’s are legitimately ready to play when called upon or Spurrier was firing a warning shot across Mitchell’s bow.
I think it was a little of both.
But make no mistake. Spurrier fully understands that USC’s best chance for a SEC championship this season lies squarely with Mitchell. He is by far the most experienced QB on the team with 17 career starts (11-6 in those games) and 539 passes attempted.
Beecher and Smelley together have 17 career pass attempts and no starts. Garcia has a clean slate.
You do the math. You know Spurrier is.
Beecher and Smelley have promise but neither is ready to lead USC to a conference championship this season.
Like it or not, Mitchell will be the starting QB in the season opener on Sept. 1, and will take most of the snaps under center this season unless he’s severely injured.
Spurrier may not like it very much either, considering Mitchell’s questionable off-the-field behavior.
Right now, though, he has no choice.
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Listening to Steve Spurrier talk, or refuse to talk, about starting quarterback Blake Mitchell this past weekend gave me an uneasy feeling.
Late Saturday night, Spurrier said he was disappointed but not surprised his fifth—year senior signal caller had been disciplined for excessive absences during summer school.
Yesterday, during the same press conference in which he spoke harshly about USC’s admissions policies, Spurrier declined to address a question about Mitchell’s leadership skills.
But later he said Mitchell would be the starter when he returned to the fold for Monday night’s third workout of fall camp, and would remain the starter as long as he played well enough for the rest of August leading up to the season opener Sept. 1.
Interpreting Spurrier’s comments and non-comments about Mitchell as a whole, I have a gut feeling Spurrier is getting fed up with Mitchell’s shenanigans off the field.
If true, this would be a far more serious development than Spurrier’s perceived threats about leaving USC if the admissions policy isn’t changed for football recruits.
Why? Because I know Spurrier is staying. He has no intentions of leaving USC.
The headlines in today’s editions of the local and national newspapers screaming in big, bold print that Spurrier would quit if something wasn’t done quickly about USC’s admission policy for athletes were based entirely on one part of one sentence late in his oratory.
He also said several times he hoped to coach USC for another five years or more and thought USC could have a powerhouse football program.
Unfortunately, those positive statements were buried under the avalanche of a negative 10-second sound bite.
Now back to Mitchell.
Of course, this latest episode isn’t the first time Mitchell has incurred the wrath of Spurrier. Within hours after Mitchell was demoted last year following the shutout loss at home to Georgia, he was involved in an early-morning altercation with a bouncer at a well-known drinking establishment in Five Points.
After a benching that lasted over six games until halftime of the Arkansas game, Mitchell sat quietly on the bench and watched the versatile Syvelle Newton energize the USC offense.
To his credit, Mitchell was a much improved quarterback when he returned. He played smarter (one of Spurrier’s favorite terms) and appeared to grow as a team leader. He was also much better dealing with the media.
As Spurrier has noted, when Mitchell is given adequate protection by the offensive line and supported by a strong running game, he’s very effective.
That’s exactly what happened over the final 18 quarters last season. The offensive line was airtight, surrendering only four sacks over the last for contests, and the running game was productive with Cory Boyd and Mike Davis.
Here’s the deal. Spurrier demands a lot from his quarterbacks, both on and off the field. They are supposed to be a leader (translation: the best player) on the field and model students off it.
Right now, Mitchell struggles in both those areas.
Which is probably the reason Spurrier heaped plenty of praise on backup quarterbacks Chris Smelley and Tommy Beecher at Sunday’s press conference. Spurrier said both QB’s have exhibited great improvement in the first couple of practice sessions and a much greater understanding of the offense.
Even Stephen Garcia has caught Spurrier’s eye with his powerful throwing arm but he needs time to fully grasp the nuances of Spurrier’s complex offense before he’s ready to go. Could it be this year? I doubt it.
You can interpret Spurrier’s comments about Smelley and Beecher two ways – both QB’s are legitimately ready to play when called upon or Spurrier was firing a warning shot across Mitchell’s bow.
I think it was a little of both.
But make no mistake. Spurrier fully understands that USC’s best chance for a SEC championship this season lies squarely with Mitchell. He is by far the most experienced QB on the team with 17 career starts (11-6 in those games) and 539 passes attempted.
Beecher and Smelley together have 17 career pass attempts and no starts. Garcia has a clean slate.
You do the math. You know Spurrier is.
Beecher and Smelley have promise but neither is ready to lead USC to a conference championship this season.
Like it or not, Mitchell will be the starting QB in the season opener on Sept. 1, and will take most of the snaps under center this season unless he’s severely injured.
Spurrier may not like it very much either, considering Mitchell’s questionable off-the-field behavior.
Right now, though, he has no choice.
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Scott Hood. Since February of 2005, Scott has covered the South Carolina football, men's basketball and baseball programs for GamecockCentral. He may be reached by email at scottblog(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.